Out of the Lion's Den and Onto the Ice
by SilentLibrettist
Summary: Mimi is skating on her favorite spot. Getting a little too close to the edge, the ice cracks and she is pulled into another world. Meeting Simba's Pride, and a newcomer, Mimi is faced with two big challenge; figuring out what in the Pride Lands is going on.
1. Uneeded Want

**~~Full Summary in Profile!~~**

**Yeah, so I have a new story! The Lion King! No, it doesn't tie in with my other story, though my main characters are cousins. I know I should be on WWL, but I have serious writers block, so I started a new story. I will not forget my other story. This is my way of getting rid of writers block. Please review, and constructive criticism is welcome!**

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_Chapter 1: Unneeded Want_

Mimi Diamund sat on her bed in her room, chewing on her nails. Or at least pretending to. She had put a clear, nasty-tasting nail-polish on to stop her from biting her nails. It was working so far, but the nervous urge wasn't letting up. The reason for her distress?

Her cousins.

Zeahire and Saloma Diamund. Both of them had disappeared two days ago. Her parents, aunt and uncle were looking for both of them, but Mimi knew what happened.

The forest. The cursed forest. It was an old (and lame) legend, but it was true and scary. They had lost her aunt to that forest. The adults wouldn't believe that the girls would go near the forest, but Mimi could feel it.

She knew that Zea doesn't pay attention to where she is going, and Sal usually is watching her to make sure she doesn't trip. Which ends up in Sal tripping, then Zea is distracted and trips, usually over the same obstacle. When Mimi is there, she usually laughs her head off then trips or one, or both, of her cousins.

Mimi smiled, distracted from her sadness by silly memories. Her cousins really were crazy. Crazy enough to get themselves lost in a forest that they had been warned from birth about going near. Her smiled disappeared.

Mimi hopped out of bed, and started for the door. She had to get out of the house. Her parents had put her on lockdown because they knew wanted to look near the forest.

She snuck by her brother, who had come home from college for his missing cousins, and came into the front hallway. From there, she walked to the closet, and grabbed a few necessities, and one want.

The necessities('needs') were a light jacket, tennis shoes, her bag, and her sketchbook. Yeah, a sketchbook is not really a 'need', but Mimi takes it everywhere, so it has become a 'need'. The want was her ice skates.

Why ice skates in the middle of summer? Well, her cousin Zea had promised to go ice skating near the forest with Mimi.

Both of them knew that the forest was off limits, but it seemed that if you didn't touch the forest floor, you were fine. There was a long pond, in the back of Zea's huge backyard, that lead into the forest. All three cousins had secretly taught them selfs how to skate on that pond.

If was kind of childish, knowing that Zea was gone, and yet still expecting her to keep her promise. But Mimi knew that she had always been a little childish and stubborn, and now was no exception.

She made sure her skate guards were on the blades, then put her skates in her bag. She threw her bag over her shoulder and took off out the front door.

After about two minutes of walking, she came to the gate of Zea's backyard. Grabbing the key out of her trusty bag, she unlocked the gate and stepped inside. Locking up the gate again, she started for the hidden pond.

She didn't even need to search for the small dip in the ground that showed the entrance to the pond. She pushed back the bushes that concealed the rest of the area, and quickly slipped by. There wasn't anything special about the small clearing, except for the pond itself.

It was frozen. Completely solid, all year round. Mimi smiled. This was were a lot of her adventures with her cousins had happened. When they watched Inuyasha, Zea's favorite anime, they all played a part. Mulan, Sal's favorite, and The Lion King, Mimi's favorite, as well.

Mimi put on her skates, sitting on the tree stump that was perfect for sitting down and putting skates on. She then re-flung her bag over her shoulder, and took off across the ice, and into the forest.

Her plan was to go as far as the pond would let her to see if her cousins were anywhere near. She had never gone more than ten meters in, so she had no idea how long the pond actually was. So far it was 30 meters, and she still couldn't see to the end of it.

She skated over to the side, to look around.

Big mistake.

As she went over a thinner section, it cracked, trapping the blade of her skate underneath the ice. Her momentum propelled the rest of her body forward, while her foot was still stuck. She went down, hard.

Mimi landed on her knees and elbows, which, if you've ever done before, hurts like hell. She pushed herself up, mumbling under her breath.

"Of course I fall. How could I not fall? That's just how this whole thing has gone!" The mumbling turned into ranting. "My cousins disappear, I'm put on lockdown in my room, the ice breaks, my skate is stuck, and I fall on my face! Of course! WHY NOT!"

After her ranting had died down, she reached for her skate. The water was only 3 inches deep here, so she would have to be careful. She reached in and grabbed the blade, without cutting herself. The water was cold, and the blade was colder, so her fingers automatically jerked away.

And touched the bottom.

Mimi froze, not from the cold, but from fear. She had no idea if the bottom of the pond counted, but she was pretty sure it did.

Three seconds later, there was a blinding light, and Mimi found herself floating. There were swirling blue and purple lights, and she seemed to be moving through them. Suddenly, she was dumped on frozen body of water. She relaxed, thinking that was just the pond back home. But then she looked up.

She didn't see the familiar cover of the forest, oh no. What she saw was fields. Miles and miles of fields, with that type of tree you often see in african forests. Like the Lion King. What were they called? Acacia trees?

The thought of the Lion King made Mimi wonder if she was in that very movie. She dismissed that thought as soon as she had it. There were no frozen lakes in the Lion King. And even if there were, it was impossible to be transported to a movie. So then were was she? The only direction she hadn't looked yet was behind her, so she turned around.

And froze.

'_There is no way_' She thought vaguely.

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**For those of you who haven't read my other story and want to know what happened to Mimi's cousins, or the specifics of the curse on the forest are, please look at my Inuyasha story, What's With Life?**


	2. A Close Call

**Sorry it's so short, but there is a virus on my computer that wont let me on my favorite sites and are slowly picking them off. Last Friday, it decided to get FanFiction on the list. So I'm at school now, and I really need to get back to work, so please enjoy this short chapter!**

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_Chapter 2: A Close Call_

The only direction she hadn't looked yet was behind her, so she turned around. And froze.

_'There is no way_' She thought vaguely.

In front of her was the biggest rock formation that she had ever seen. Not that she had seen many rock formations before. But she certainly had seen this particular one before. In her favorite movie, The Lion King.

Yep, in front of her was Pride Rock. Home to Simba, Nala, Kiara, Kovu, and the other lionesses. The birthplace of everyone mentioned, and more. The place where Mufasa had his short, but peaceful reign. The place where Scar had nearly killed off the entire pride by starvation. The place where the Pridelanders and the Outsiders came together to form one. The place that, apparently, she would have to spend quite a while at.

What she noticed after getting over her initial shock had her quickly adding '_If I make it to that point.'_

Standing in front of her, closer than the rock yet not close enough to be in her face, was a pack of lions. Not just any lions, but Simba's pack themselves. Her first thought was that she recognized the most important ones (sorry, other lionesses).

She knew the golden colored body, with the fully grown, yet slightly scruffy mane. She knew the scar across the left eye of the one much darker than the other lions, she knew the softer, but still powerful forms of the two queens of the pride. And last, she didn't know, but still recognized, the two small cubs standing close to the darkest lion.

Her second thought was that they were coming closer, and they didn't look welcoming. Not that they looked 'I-will-kill-you-if-you-move' menacing, but 'I-don't-know-who-you-are-so-I'm-not-going-to-get- too-close' kinda look. Which, when your hoping for big smiles and hugs, was a serious disappointment.

Anyway, they were coming closer. Mimi quickly looked around, and found that she was still on the edge of the frozen lake in the middle of the Pride Lands _'Why is there a frozen lake in the middle of the Pride Lands? I don't remember ever seeing one.'_ She wondered. In the middle of all her wondering, she heard a growl. Mimi snapped up her head to see Simba right in front of her. She instinctively started to back away, but stopped when a sharp pain made itself known on her left ankle.

"Damn." She cussed under her breathe. Another growl made her look up. Simba had gotten much closer, and his lips were curled back over his teeth threateningly. Mimi flinched, and made the mistake of not doing anything else. The next second, there was a heavy paw on her chest, ice against her back, and the sound of her head whacking against the ice. _'Yeeowch.'_ Was all she thought before she looked back up at Simba.

He was still threatening, seemingly mad that she didn't do anything. He pressed harder on her chest while growling again. It was getting harder to breathe, and Mimi was just about to take a chance and try to push his paw off her, when she heard a small sound. None of the lions seemed to notice it, too intent on the unknown animal under Simba's paw. Mimi was just about to write it off as her imagination, when she heard it again. She pushed her chin up into the air and looked behind her.

What she saw scared her near to death. Somehow, one of the cubs had managed to get itself in the middle the ice. It was now desperately trying to get back to it's parents.

And away from the hyenas slowly making their way towards him.

Mimi's eyes widened, and she automatically started making her way to the cub, only to be stopped by the paw on her chest. She looked up at Simba, and tried again to tug herself away. He growled at her again, so she growled back and pointed to the cub. Shocked from being growled back at, Simba looked up, only to see his grandson stuck in the middle of the frozen pond with two hyenas on his tail.

Simba lifted his paw off Mimi's chest and started towards the cub. But as lions paws are not made for traveling on ice, Simba slipped. He quickly realized he would not make it in time. The others in the pride realized this as well, and Kovu and Kiara started panicking.

Mimi saw that the lions would make it in time, so, ignoring the stabs of pain in her ankle and the pounding of her head, she got up. She was hit with a wave of dizziness, but shook it off quickly. As soon as she was steadied, she took off across the ice and started towards the cub.

She was there in less than two seconds, and quickly scooped up the cub. Unfortunately, the closest hyena didn't like that. So he swept his paw out to try to get his meal back. He didn't grab her, but his claws slashed across her left leg.

Mimi hissed in pain, but kept going, weaving back through the hyenas to get to the lions. The hyena swiped at her again, this time not cutting her, but knocking her off balance. She would've preferred he slice her than knock her off balance, because her skates were sharp and dangerous when her right leg was flailing around wildly, even if just for a second.

And during that second, her blade managed to make _another_ slash across her leg. Mimi felt like screaming bloody murder, but she didn't want to scare the cub in her arms, and she was almost back to the lions. Just 10 more meters.

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**Hope you enjoyed, please review!**


	3. Simba's Thoughts

**Sorry for the late update, but I had no time to write with the moving and all. This is kinda Simba's versoin of the meeting. Either way, please enjoy this short chapter!**

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_Chapter 3: Simba's Thoughts_

Mimi felt like screaming bloody murder, but she didn't want to scare the cub in her arms, and she was almost back to the lions. Just 10 more meters.

Getting back over to the pride, Mimi gently put the cub down in between its parents. Kovu and Kiara frantically checked over him for injuries, and Mimi smiled as the other cub mimicked its parents and ran up to its sibling.

As the rest of the pride went to check on the young cub as well, Mimi allowed herself to plop ungracefully to the ground, careful not to land on her sore leg. She took the remains of her jeans-her favorite pair, too-and wound them into a tight bandage around her bleeding leg.

Simba had heard her plop to the ground, so he came over to look curiously at the strange creature before him.

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He had been patrolling the pride lands again, trying to find out what was happening. A couple of days ago, a random storm had completely taken everyone by surprise. It lasted about five minutes, then disappeared as fast as it had appeared. What it left had shocked all the residents of the pride lands.

A frozen lake. There wasn't even a regular lake there before the storm. Simba was very wary of the lake, and told everyone in his kingdom to stay away from it. And they had all done so. Until one day, a bright light came from the air, and a shape was lowered onto the surface of the lake.

They couldn't tell what it was from afar, so Simba had the entire pride walk out with him to find out what it was. And since there would be no one to left to protect the cubs, they had to come with them.

When they got closer they saw a very strange creature, with almost no fur, and what looked like patches of skin. The skin looked like it had different textures and thickness, and it all seemed to cover a main, smoother and more delicate, under-skin. He could hear the whispers among the pride.

"What is it?"

"It looks like some species of monkey!"

"No, have you every seen a monkey with that ridiculous amount of fur on its head?"

"It looks very strange, its torso is the colour of blood, and its legs are the colour of deep water. The rest of it is pale, except for the brown fur on the top of its head."

"The fur looks like a mane, it must be male."

"Yes, you're right, but what type of animal is it?"

Simba only half-listened to the chatter about the new animal, he was too focused on making sure it wasn't a threat to his pride.

It seemed to be looking at them, a strange look on its face. Its mouth was agape, eyes wide and slightly fearful. _'Good. It should know that I would protect my pride at all costs.'_ It forced its eyes off us, and looked around. Simba took this time to walk up to it.

"Who are you?" He asked, with a deep growl in his voice. Its head snapped back to Simba, seemingly startled at his sudden appearance. Its eyes were wide again, it was very, very frightened. It started to back away, but it suddenly stopped, making a few noises under its breath.

Simba moved closer while it was looking down, and asked again.

"Who _are _you?" It looked back up at him and flinched, but didn't say anything. He pressed his paw against its torso, and pushed it down onto the ice. A sharp crack was heard when its head hit the ice, but it still looked up at Simba, not saying a word. He pressed harder on her chest, and this time asked a different question.

"What are you doing in my lands?" He growled. The rest of the pride was correct, it looked like it had a mane, which probably made it male. And the top lion didn't take well to other males on his land. Had he looked closer, he would have seem that its body was feminine, not at all built like a male. He pressed down harder on his captive and growled the question again. It looked panicked.

Without warning, a small sound reached his ears, but he ignored it. The creature seemed to lose focus on him, then again. It finally pushed its chin up backwards, looking behind it and bearing it throat in the process. He snorted in his head. _'It must be really stupid, I could kill it in a second.'_

It moved, trying to get away from him, so Simba stopped it with his paw. It looked up at him, and tried to pull away again. Simba growled at it, and was startled when it growled back and pointed. He was shocked that it had growled at him, so he looked where it was pointing.

What he saw was my grandson in the middle of the lake, trying to get away from two hyenas. He quickly stepped off of her and onto the ice, but, as lions are not made for traveling on ice, he slipped. He realized that he wouldn't get to his grandson in time, so he started to panic. He could hear Kiara and Kovu panicking too.

"Oh no! Kopa!" Kiara yelled, scared for her cub. Kovu refrained from yelling, but he tried running to his son as well, but slipping on the ice just as Simba had. He nearly lost hope- Kopa was going to be killed, and there was a strange creature in his lands. However, what he saw next, shocked him to no end. He saw the strange creature get up shakily, and for the first time he noticed it had strange claws on the bottom of its feet. _'Those can't be good for running.'_ He thought. He assumed it was going to make as fast of a getaway as possible. _'Not that it would be very fast.'_ He once again thought about the strange claws.

He was proven wrong however, when the creature took off across the ice. It was amazing, he had never seen such speed on the ice. Its strange claws seemed to help it greatly. _'So that's what those were for. It's a creature of ice.'_ He thought, shocked as it speeded towards Kopa. It was there in less than two seconds, scooping his grandson up out of harms way.

He saw the closest hyena to it slash it claws across the creatures leg, and he saw it flinch. But it quickly jumped in the air and spun, and landed in the direction of the pride. As it zoomed towards him, he saw the same hyena swipe for its leg again, but missed. But it did knock it off balance, and one of its own claws sliced diagonally across its other wounds. He saw its face tighten in pain, but it didn't make a sound.

As it got closer to the pride, it slowed down, and gently dropped Kopa in between his parents. The whole pride went around the boy to see if he was okay. Simba heard the creature drop to the ground it self, and looked to see that it had ripped some of its already torn blue skin off and wrapped it around the paler skin.

He walked over to the strange creature, and looked curiously at it.

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**Please review!**


	4. A Quick Truce

**Yep, it's kind-of a short chapter, but I think the fact that it was updated so soon makes up for that. I probably wont update again in a while, because I _do _have another story that I need to update, too.**

**Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!**

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_Chapter 4: A Quick Truce _

Mimi felt Simba come over and stare at her. She shifted uncomfortably, half because of his stare and half because of the immense pain on her leg. _'I wonder why he seemed so threatening when he saw me. The Simba in the movies was a lot nicer.'_ She thought, very confused. Then she got a realization. _'Oh! It's probably because of my hair. In the lion world, only males have hair this long.'_

Her face unconsciously made itself into a '-.-' look. _'So these lions probably think I'm a guy. Great.'_ She thought she had a very feminine figure. _'I don't know why I'm so offended that they think I'm a dude. I guess it's just because this is my favorite movie, with my favorite characters.'_

Mimi was startled out of her increasingly worsening mood when the cub she saved hopped into her lap and, she swore, _grinned _at her. He was too adorable, and she just _had_ to pick him up and rub her face against his. The cub didn't at all mind and nuzzled his own face against her flushed cheeks. Mimi giggled as he licked her nose.

She looked up, only to see the entire pride staring at her. She suddenly felt very awkward, and put the cub down. It hopped back in her lap and refused to move. She looked up as she felt Kiara walk beside her. The lioness picked up her cub by the scruff of the neck and started walking back to Pride Rock with the rest of the pride.

Mimi didn't know what to do, so she just kept still and looked after them. She was just about to try to figure out a way to get home, when she felt something push her up from behind. She quickly looked behind her to see Simba, with his head against her back, pushing her up into a standing position. She stood up, and then nearly fell back over when the pain in her head, leg, and ankle made her sway. '_Not my day.' _She thought grumpily.

Simba, when he saw her nearly fall, stepped in front of her and offered his back to her. When Mimi hesitated, the choice was taken away from her when another wave of pain knocked her over onto his back. She gave up, wrapping her hands around his neck. He started to walk to catch up to the pride.

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Simba caught up to his pride and walked over to Nala, Kiara and Kovu. They all looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm going to bring it to Rafiki, to see if he can figure out what it is." He said.

"But what if we find out it's hostile?" Kovu asked, placing himself in-between Simba and Kiara.

"But I want to see the nice lady!" Kopa whined. They all looked at him, wondering how he figured it was a "lady."

"Later, sweetheart." Kiara promised. Kopa looked upset, but didn't argue.

"Then we will take care of it then. We owe it for saving Kopa." Said Simba, Kiara nodding in agreement. Kovu hesitated, then agreed.

"Alright." He said reluctantly. Simba nodded, and turned off the path to get to Rafiki's tree.

After five minutes, the enormous tree came into view. He could hear the old monkey racing around in the branches, and whacking his stick in random bunches of leaves. Simba always thought that the old baboon was slightly crazy, since the day he met him. But no matter how insane he was, he was very wise, and had seen many things in his time. That was the reason he still came to Rafiki in the first place.

"Aaahhh, Simba! Long time no see!" said Rafiki, hopping down from the tree and running up to hug Simba. He stopped, though, when he saw the creature clinging to Simba's neck. "Aaahhh, is this creature why your here?" He asked. Simba nodded.

"I don't know what it is, or if it is hostile or not. It doesn't seem to know how to speak, yet it saved my grandson from hyenas on the frozen lake." Simba said hoping that the old baboon knew what it was. Rafiki nodded.

"I do know what it is, Simba." Simba looked up hopefully. After a while, he grew impatient.

"Well? What is it?" Simba finally asked, fed up. Rafiki grinned.

"Well, this creature here is called a human." He said.

"A human?" Simba said, glad to know what it was, but wanting to know more.

"It can speak, but it has its own language, and doesn't know ours. Most humans are hostile to animals, but there are exceptions. This one seems not to mean any harm, since it saved Kopa, yes?" When Simba nodded, Rafiki continued.

"When figuring out the gender, human's hair are generally are opposite of lions. The females have longer manes that just come out of the top of their head, and the males keep theirs shorter. You can also tell by the way their bodies are built. Like lions, females are generally leaner and more delicate than the males. So..." Rafiki took a quick look over the human, who had slid off Simba's back and onto the ground. "This one is probably a female." He concluded. Simba nodded, knowing a little bit more about this creature.

"Do you think that you could enable her to speak to us?" Simba asked, wanting to know why she appeared on top of the lake, and if she knew why the lake was there in the first place.

"I do." Rafiki nodded. "Come with me." And with that, he hopped away, with Simba following behind. Rafiki led him to the other side of the humungous tree. If there was anime sweat drops allowed in this movie, Simba would have one. _'What was the point of that?' _he thought.

"Whew! I was getting hot over there. Now that we are in the shade, lets get to it!" Rafiki said, grabbing his stick. Simba rolled his eyes. "Alright, now put her down!" Rafiki yelled. Simba complied, and she plopped down on the ground. Rafiki raised his stick, and the wind pick up, seeming to circle around the human.

Her hair whipped around her face, and her clothes flapped wildly around her. An slight glow came from her body, and her eyes flashed silver. Then everything was back to normal. They waited while the human looked around. Simba grew tired of waiting.

"Well? Did it work?" He asked. The humans head snapped back to look at him with wide eyes. "Do you understand me?" He asked her. One of her eyebrows raised. Her mouth opened, and then she spoke.

"Well, that was weird." Simba grinned, now sure that they could have a decent conversation. He turned back to Rafiki.

"Thank you, old friend." He said. Rafiki just grinned and waved him off, heading back to his tree. "I'll call you if something happens to the human." Rafiki nodded, and disappeared up into the branches.

"Excuse me?" Simba heard behind him. He turned around to look at the human. "I do have a name, you know." Simba nodded.

"Of course, how rude of me. What is your name?" He asked, smiling.

"Melody. Melody Diamund, but you can call me Mimi." She said, smiling.

"Well, Mimi, my name is Simba. Lets go talk for a while, then I'll introduce you to the rest of the pride, ok?" Mimi nodded.

"Sure!" She then climbed on his back and he went off to find a private place to talk.

**Once again, it is kinda short, and I wont be updating for two weeks at most. Please review if you have the time, and please check out my other story! It's Inuyasha!**


	5. A Quick Chat

**Aha! Finally, another chapter! I have two more to do for this story by Friday because of a deal, so be happy!**

**Thank you so much to people that reviewed, and the people that are still reading my stories.**

**To those of you who love ALADDIN!, I have a story up about that, if you're interested in it!**

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_Chapter 5: A Quick Chat_

Simba finally decided that the best place to talk would be at the frozen lake. After all, the girl-Mimi-had shown up here, and he intended to ask if she was the cause of the new frozen addition to the Pride Lands. After getting to a spot where they weren't cold, but could still easily see the lake, he set her down. She slid off his back, wincing when her leg hit the ground. He turned and laid down beside her.

"What are you doing in the Pride Lands?" Simba asked, watching her carefully to see if she would lie. '_Never mind that I can't read human faces.'_ Turns out that was wrong as her face was extremely easy to read. She shrugged.

"I don't know why I'm here, I really don't. I was just skating, and I was sucked into this world in a flash of light, and landed on this lake. Speaking of which, where did it come from, anyway? I don't recall seeing it before..." Mimi spoke, trailing off at the end as she realized what she said. She prayed that Simba wouldn't catch it, but she knew he was sharper than that.

"So you really don't know why your here... what's skating?" He asked, curiosity getting the best of him. Mimi pulled out her uninjured leg and pointed at her skate.

"You saw how I went on the ice earlier?" Simba nodded, remembering the lightning speed in which she hand saved his grandson. "That's called skating." Simba nodded, understanding. He had another question, though.

"How do you sleep on the ice? You don't even seem to have any fur, isn't it cold?" He asked, still believing that humans were creatures of ice. Mimi blinked at him, then laughed, understanding.

"Oh, that's funny! These skates aren't part of my feet, I put them on. I don't sleep on ice, I sleep on land, like you do." She said, taking off her skates in a demonstration. Simba understood, then wondered how she made those.. skates.

"Wait, you said that you hadn't seen the frozen lake before. Have you been to the Pride Lands before?" Simba asked, remembering a part of her sentence. Sal thought quickly.

"Well, sorta. I've dreamed about this place, and some adventures you and your family have had. It's kinds strange to find that this is all real." Technically, she wasn't lying, she did dream about both movies. And it _was_ strange to see the pride in real life.

"Strange.." Simba murmured, lost in thought. She had seen the Pride Lands in her dreams. What adventures had she seen of his family? He looked up at her to ask her, then realized that it was getting dark. Simba stood up, then offered her his back. Mimi looked confused. "It is getting late." He explained. Mimi looked up.

'_Wow, it is late. That day went by way too fast.'_ She thought, surprised. She supposed being taken to a different world, saving a cub, and speaking to the Lion King himself would take a lot of time. So Mimi grabbed on to Simba's neck and let him carry her to Pride Rock.

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**I update faster if you review!**


	6. Cat Nap

**Ugh, just...you guys have no idea how sorry I am for both the wait and the short chapter. I have had so much trouble with my computer and fanfiction itself and school...**

**To sum it up, I've just been really busy with real life. Hopefully I'll be uploading a lot more now that I've sorted most everything out.**

**Again, I'm terrribly sorry.**

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The walk back to Pride Rock was dull. Simba seemed to be out of questions and I was too shy to ask any of my own. Honestly, I was just too tired to so much as think right now.

The pain in my leg had dulled down to a throbbing ache, and somewhere in the common sense part of my brain mentioned that I would need to disinfect it. Oh, well. I sighed softly in content. Simba's pace was slow, and his walk was smooth, the only real movement I noticed was the slight rocking motion of his shoulders as he stepped.

After staring for a while at the fiery colours of the sunset, I would up fast asleep.

Simba slowly made his way up the side of Pride Rock, careful not to dislodge his passenger. When he reached the entrance to the cave he and his pride slept in, he was not surprised to find both Nala and Kovu outside waiting for him.

"So? What did Rafiki say?" Nala asked, stepping forward slightly to see him better in the fading light.

"He knows what she is. He even enabled her to talk to us." Simba replied, smiling slightly at his mate. Kovu stepped forward.

"Does it intend any harm?" He asked; ever protective of his family.

"No, she doesn't." Simba chuckled slightly at Kovu's caution; know that he knew it wasn't needed, it seemed a bit extreme.

"She?" Nala questioned, looking curiously at Simba.

"Yes, she. Her name is Mimi." Simba explained.

"She's on your back, right? Why hasn't she said anything?" Kovu asked, suddenly suspicious. Simba, just now realizing that Mimi hadn't spoken yet, turned his head to look at her. He smiled softly when he saw why she was so quiet.

"That's because she's asleep." Simba replied, turning so that both lions could see the small human cuddled into Simba's mane. Nala smiled at the likeness to a lion cub, and even Kovu had to chuckle when she nuzzled her face deeper into Simba's warm fur.

"Well, we should get her inside so that she can get a good night sleep." Nala whispered, leading the way into the cave. Simba followed, with Kovu taking up the rear.

The darker male watched in amusement as the human was carefully put on the ground. She instantly curled in on herself, then whimpered slightly in pain when she moved her leg.

"She's like a cub." Kovu said softly, gazing down at the human who was now shuffling closer to Simba's paws, searching for warmth. Simba chuckled at the young human, then looked to his mate. She merely plopped down close to the human, leaving enough space for Simba to lie down.

"She's a lot like a cub, Simba replied, swatting Mimi away from where she was trying to steal his spot next to Nala. Simba laughed, remembering all the times Kiara had done the same.

Kovu shook his head, and glanced at Kiara, where his cubs had stolen his spot next to his mate. He sighed again and started walking to his second best spot, which was beside the cubs. As he walked over, Kopa's head popped up from where it was nuzzled into Kiara stomach. He watched his father walk closer, and sat up when they were right beside each other.

"Hey, Dad? Can I go sleep beside the nice lady?" Kopa asked hopefully. Kovu raised an eyebrow at his son, then glanced over at the human curled up to Simba.

"What it is, Kovu?" Kiara asked groggily, lifting her head from the ground to look at her mate.

"Kopa wants to sleep with the human over there." Kovu gestured over to Simba as he said this. Kiara looked over and smiled when she saw the scene. Kopa jumped up in front of his mother's face, making her focus on him.

"Can I Mom? Please?" Kopa begged. Kiara glanced at the completely harmless looking human, who had just yawned and stretched in an adorable way, then back to her cub who was looking at her with a wide smile that reminded her somewhat of her father's playful smiles.

"Of course, Kopa. Just go straight to sleep, and don't bother Granddad or Grandma." Kiara replied. Kopa excitedly trotted over to the human.

"Are you sure?" Kovu asked, watching as his son crawl underneath Mimi's arm and curling up underneath her chin. Mimi pulled Kopa a little closer, so that they were both snug and warm.

"Of course. Daddy wouldn't have brought her back if she wasn't friendly." Kiara explained, laying back down to fall back asleep. Kovu looked back to Mimi and his son, both fast asleep, then laid down beside his mate.


End file.
